B'nai B'rith leaders and volunteers met with Indian Ambassador Rajiv Chander at the UNHRC.

B’nai B’rith International concluded its annual leadership delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, where top volunteer leaders and staff advocated on important human rights issues and challenged the body’s relentless bias against Israel.

From March 14 to March 16, some 25 B’nai B’rith leaders and supporters met with senior diplomats from roughly 30 countries, including the United States, India, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Jordan, Mexico, Togo and the United Kingdom. B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin led the delegation.

“The Council spends an inordinate amount of its resources attacking Israel — a thriving, open democracy living in a dangerous region frequently characterized by tyranny and chaos — at the expense of helping the victims of acute human rights abuses throughout the world. Member states that want this Council to have any credibility on human rights issues must undertake a concerted effort to eradicate the bias inherent in the UNHRC,” Saltzman and Mariaschin said from Geneva.

During the trip, the delegation held meetings with member states to discuss serial human rights abusers such as Iran and Syria, and the UNHRC’s obsessive focus on Israel under “Item 7” — a permanent agenda item aimed only at Israel, while all other country situations are handled under a different agenda item.

The delegation also hosted a diplomatic reception at the Palais des Nations, the U.N.’s European hub, with numerous ambassadors. The chef de cabinet of the Geneva U.N. director-general and the Israeli ambassador addressed the assemblage and saluted B’nai B’rith for its 175-year history and unparalleled record of engagement at the world body.

​A high-level B’nai B’rith International delegation concluded a visit to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, where top lay leaders and staff challenged the body’s growing exploitation as a political tool against Israel. The group met with new UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and diplomats accredited to the body.

On March 12 and March 13, B’nai B’rith leaders met with some two-dozen ambassadors and other diplomats from countries including Germany, Russia, Japan, Kenya, Greece, Italy and Nigeria. B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin led the delegation.

​“In the fall, the United States withdrew from UNESCO because of its frequent misuse as a weapon against Israel. UNESCO needs to be reformed and its member states must understand that delegitimizing Israel negates UNESCO’s own mission and standing,” Saltzman and Mariaschin said from Paris. “Most notoriously, UNESCO has even voted to whitewash the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall — which are the holiest sites in Judaism.”

​B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International strongly condemns the nomination of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination was submitted by Bjornar Moxness, Norwegian MP and leader of the Red Party.

The BDS movement is antithetical to peace. It is a nefarious, discriminatory crusade by anti-Israel activists who wish to isolate and cripple Israel by boycotting its cultural and economic sectors.

This shameful nomination demonstrates the willingness of many in the international community to advance a biased agenda against the Jewish state based on a false historical narrative.

B’nai B’rith International, the Begin-Sadat Center of Strategic Studies (BESA) and the Center for Righteousness and Integrity will hold a conference on “Strategic Challenges in Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Gulf” on Feb. 22, 2018 at Bar-Ilan University. The conference will be held in English with simultaneous Hebrew translation.

The conference will offer cutting edge discussion of the new strategic challenges in the Persian Gulf: Can Iran's hegemonic drive be contained and its nuclear program reversed? How likely is Iranian-Israeli confrontation in Syria? Will Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman succeed in reforming the kingdom? How real is the evolving Israeli-Saudi alliance? Are the Gulf states a spent power?

B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin and Center for Righteousness and Integrity President Reva Oliner will provide opening remarks. Other scheduled speakers in the conference include leading experts from Israel and abroad including: Gary P. Saltzman, B’nai B’rith president and Alan Schneider, B’nai B’rith World-Jerusalem director.

​B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith strongly condemns the annual neo-Nazi "Lukov March" that will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria on Feb. 17. The rally has been held each year since 2003 to glorify Nazi ally General Hristo Lukov, who participated in the repression of Bulgarian Jewry before and during World War II; and was the leader of the Union of Bulgarian National Legions. Organized by the far-right Bulgarian National Union, the march is aimed at spreading xenophobia and intolerance in Bulgaria.

For the past two years the march was technically banned, however it was allowed to continue nonetheless without police intervention. The rally brings together neo-Nazis and other extremists united in hatred. Such blatant public displays of anti-Semitism and xenophobia must not be ignored.

In an era of rising anti-Semitism and Holocaust distortion, B’nai B’rith condemns in the strongest terms all such expressions of bigotry. We call on Bulgarian authorities to denounce the Lukov March as a demonstration of the ideology of hatred and historical revisionism. We further implore Bulgarian political and civil society leaders to intensify their efforts to counter the Lukov March organizers and other extremists who continue to defy the rule of law.

​B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

In discussing the history of Poland during World War II, B’nai B’rith International has always strongly discouraged the use of inaccurate and deeply problematic phrases like “Polish death camps” to describe concentration camps built and operated by the Nazis on Polish soil. We understand that Poland was invaded and occupied by Germany and that the Polish people suffered terrible losses.

However, the draft law passed by the Polish Senate today by a 57-23 vote represents a wrong approach. We believe it will have a chilling effect on Poland’s examination of the country’s wartime role. The law would criminalize not only the phrase “Polish death camp,” but any suggestion of Polish complicity in the Holocaust.

It is vital that every country confront the most painful and vexing episodes in its past in an open and honest way. For Poland, this means acknowledging a history of anti-Semitism that preceded the Holocaust and has persisted to this day. It also means recognizing that some Poles provided assistance to the Germans and some participated in massacres not orchestrated by the Nazis.

We urge the Polish government to reverse this ill-conceived law in favor of policies that would promote free speech and inquiry about this dark chapter of the country’s past. Openness and education are the keys to establishing a historical record based on truth rather than painful inaccuracies.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed every year on or near Jan. 27, the date in 1945 the allies liberated the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. In addition to U.S. observances, B’nai B’rith International commemorated this significant day across Latin America.

In Argentina, Human Rights Office Director Claudio Avruj, who is also a former B’nai B’rith executive vice president of District 23, was the governmental officer attending the main commemoration in the Chaco Province. Also attending was Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie and the leaders of Jewish organizations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Santiago, Chile held an event that was attended by more than 300 people and was organized jointly by B´nai B´rith and the Jewish community of Chile. Samuel del Campo, Righteous Among Nations, was honored through his nephew Christian Beals.

Uruguay’s Congress held a special session commemorating the day, and Chief of Staff Juan Roballo gave a speech that was broadcast across the country on the radio and several television channels. In his speech Roballo stated, “Our remembrance of Holocaust victims is a commitment to fight for a real ‘never more’ and a commitment to fight against all forms of discrimination.”

In Brazil, The U.N. office opened an exhibit on the Shoah in Rio de Janeiro for one week.

In Ecuador, the University of the Americas hosted an event by the U.N. office, the Israeli Embassy, Albert Einstein College and the local Jewish community.

Mexico commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day through a ceremony in Congress co-sponsored by B´nai B´rith and a special recognition was presented to Bulgaria for its role during the Shoah. B’nai B’rith leader Dan Tartakovski coordinated B´nai B´rith’s co-sponsorship of the event.

The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry held a special event in the ministry to remember the Shoah and the main speaker was the Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel.

In commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the United Nations, B’nai B’rith International focused attention at a New York program on “Jews who Rescued Fellow Jews during the Holocaust,” and presented a citation in honor of Aron Grunhut for his extraordinary efforts saving Jews in Slovakia.

In introductory remarks, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination Fabrizio Hochschild, of Chile, spoke about his Jewish late grandfather’s little-known efforts, from Bolivia, to save thousands of Jewish refugees by helping them immigrate to that country.

This morning’s posthumous honoree, Grunhut, was an Orthodox businessman and leader in several Jewish organizations in what is now Bratislava, Slovakia. He began his rescue activities in 1938, when he participated in saving Jewish refugees sent to Hungary from Austria. At the same time, he had a tent camp built for stateless Jews in Slovakia, and organized their journey to the British mandate of Palestine. In 1939, he further chartered two steam boats to smuggle 1,365 Jews from Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Austria to pre-state Israel.

Grunhut was arrested in Slovakia in 1943 for his activity in the resistance. After his release, he joined his wife and young son, who were hidden under false identities, in Hungary. From a hiding place, Grunhut contacted the Hungarian underground and financed the smuggling of Jewish refugees by train from Budapest to Damascus, saving another 300 children. He himself found refuge in the basement of the former Czechoslovakian embassy in Budapest, living there with his wife and son until the end of the war. The family returned to Bratislava after the war, but left for Israel in 1948.

B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman welcomed Grunhut’s granddaughter, Yael Goren, who accepted the rescuer’s award on behalf of Benny Goren, her father, now a resident of Florida.

“We have gathered to focus on a unique, important and largely overlooked aspect of the history of the Holocaust. While for decades significant attention was justly focused on acknowledging and honoring non-Jews who heroically helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust — many of them are recognized by Israel’s national Holocaust authority, Yad Vashem, as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ — there has been far less awareness of Jews who, frequently enduring the most trying and precarious of circumstances themselves, took the initiative and risk to aid others facing Nazi persecution and mass murder,” Saltzman said.

B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Director Alan Schneider and Haim Roet, chairman of the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jews who Rescued Fellow Jews during the Holocaust, also spoke at the event by phone from Israel. They discussed the history of the citation and why such recognition of Jewish rescue is necessary.

Goren spoke of Jew’s courageous efforts to save Jews.

“My grandfather, though many times he was the leading force behind his deeds, could not act alone. He had to have the support of other Jewish fighters and this is what they were, even if they didn’t carry a weapon. They put theirs and their dear ones’ lives at risk — at a higher risk — when it was risky enough just to be Jewish — selfless and fearless against all odds to save other people, other fellow Jews. My father would then celebrate his 90th birthday in just of a couple weeks, couldn’t be here today. I’m here on behalf of my father that would have been here on behalf of his father. Those that were younger kids during the war are now at least in their 80s. We have very limited time to make sure that all of these unknown brave stories are told and documented before we won’t have [anyone] to ask anymore,” Goren said.

B’nai B’rith’s program preceded the official U.N. Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony — addressed by the body’s secretary-general, Antonio Guterres — which leaders of the organization also attended. B’nai B’rith played an active role in the United Nations’ adoption of Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005. Last week, Director of United Nations and Intercommunal Affairs David Michaels, in remarks on a U.N. panel, detailed many of B’nai B’rith’s efforts to commemorate the Holocaust, promote diversity and combat hatred around the globe.

Michaels said: “My organization was founded as a pioneer of civil-society humanitarianism by German Jewish immigrants in this city 175 years ago — a century before their peers and relatives would experience the culmination of unthinkable anti-Semitism and inhumanity in the Holocaust. And in the ashes of the Holocaust, my organization helped lead Jewish communal engagement in San Francisco in 1945 in the founding of the United Nations, as we have in the life of the U.N. ever since. And notwithstanding the well-known and real strains that have since emerged in this relationship, this engagement has reflected profound Jewish aspiration to see this body fulfill the vision of peace inscribed on the Isaiah Wall across the street from here.”

He concluded: “Vigilance and concrete action against all forms of bigotry remain critical at a time of resurgent Nazi-glorification in parts of Central Europe and elsewhere, of the rise of so-called racial nationalists in the United States, and of persistent Holocaust-denial and demonization of Jews across much of the Middle East.”

Photos from the Event:

B'nai B'rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

We salute President Donald J. Trump for his steadfast support of Israel during his State of the Union address. His December announcement, which he reiterated in his address tonight, to move the U.S. embassy to its rightful place in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, was a significant declaration. The refusal of the global community to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s rightful capital has long been objectionable. Israel is the only country in the world whose choice of a capital is not internationally recognized. We commend this administration for its unequivocal support of Jerusalem and for reviving the U.S.-Israel relationship.

We are disappointed that the president’s priorities, as outlined in his speech, don’t strengthen programs on which older Americans rely. The new tax law’s elimination of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate sets up older Americans for higher health care premiums. The mandate as implemented in the original ACA had done a commendable job of keeping health care premiums for older people somewhat in check.

We urge the president to work with Congress to ensure that any shortfall in federal revenue from tax cuts will not give cover to lawmakers to cut vital programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and nutrition assistance, that so many Americans rely on to meet their basic day-to-day needs.

In his address, Trump also stressed infrastructure rebuilding. We had hoped his plan would call attention to the dearth of affordable housing for seniors. B’nai B’rith, the largest national Jewish sponsor of low-income housing for older Americans, has a nearly half-century commitment to safe, affordable housing for older persons. Any infrastructure plans should include helping seniors of low-income live independently, safely and securely.

The president also talked about an immigration plan that includes a path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants brought to this country as children. B’nai B’rith continues to call for both parties to agree on a plan for comprehensive immigration reform. Enforcement must be coupled with a path to normalization that is more efficient than our current procedures. In supporting the passage of a Dream Act, we co-signed a letter to Congress that stressed: “While Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) provided temporary relief, we believe that these young people deserve the chance to live, study and work in the United States without constant fear of deportation. With DACA slated to end in March 2018, they now face possible detention and deportation to countries they may not know or remember.” Our position is that comprehensive immigration reform should be bipartisan and expeditious.

We agree with the president’s assessment that the Iran nuclear agreement is not a good deal. Since its inception, we have expressed concern about the feasibility of a nuclear deal with Tehran. The global threat posed by Iran’s access to nuclear weapons cannot be overstated. A nuclear-armed Iran is a chilling prospect, given Tehran’s hegemonic reach, through its proxies, into the far corners of the Middle East and well beyond.​Given that the State of the Union is meant to sum up the last year and to look ahead as the president frames his top priorities, in the coming days we will use the president’s speech as a blueprint to work with the White House on issues important to our organization and our constituencies.

B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) toured one of B’nai B’rith International’s housing facilities to meet with residents and discuss the critical importance of housing for adults with limited means. Sam J. Stone B’nai B’rith Covenant Apartments in Peoria, Ill. is a residential facility sponsored by B’nai B’rith in partnership with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

“I had a great discussion with the seniors of B'nai B'rith Covenant Apartments today about all of the issues affecting them and their families. Our seniors worked hard all of their lives and they deserve to retire with dignity, and that includes providing them with affordable housing options through the Section 202 program. I believe that all seniors should be able to retire with peace of mind which is why I'm fighting hard to protect the Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefits they've earned,” Bustos said.

Bustos’ tour of the building included a model apartment, two community rooms, laundry room, food pantry and the computer/library room. Other amenities were outlined for the Congresswoman: how the Peoria Public Library book program works, how transportation to doctor appointments is provided and much more.

This type of housing is in constant demand, and researchers say for every low-income senior housing apartment nationwide there are 10-12 seniors waiting for a spot.

“It was a pleasure hosting Congresswoman Bustos at B’nai B’rith Covenant Apartments. Her visit highlighted the importance Section 202 plays by providing affordable housing for low-income seniors to age in place. Affordable housing accompanied by programs like Medicare and Social Security allow seniors to retire with dignity,” B’nai B’rith International Assistant Director for Aging Policy Evan Carmen said.

The B'nai B'rith Senior Housing Network in the United States consists of 38 buildings in 27 communities, includes some 4,500 apartment units and serves more than 8,000 people.

“I have been here for seven years and I moved here after I retired because of the amenities they provide to the residents and especially security. I was looking for security and I find it here at B’nai B’rith, there are many programs here for seniors that benefit them, and it’s just one big happy family here,” said resident Ruth Bush.